Therapy
by SillyGeekyMe
Summary: Pjo Au about Thaluke, Percabeth, Jiper and maybe other couples. Modern day au.
1. Chapter 1

**Thalia**

It was a drizzly morning in December. I was standing arm in arm with my brother Jason. We watched as our mother's coffin was lowered into the grave. It took a lot of effort for me not to cry, but I was too proud. I was 16 years old, my brother Jason was 15. The other guests at the funeral were crying, looking sad, hugging someone... I hated them all. I hated them for coming here, for sharing the last time we would spend with our mother with us. I didn't want to share anything. I just wanted my mother back.

She had not been my mother for the last five years, ever since our father had left her. She had started drinking, going out with a different man every night and abandoned us. I had taken care of Jason, making him food, making sure he did his school work, stealing my mum's money to buy us food and clothes. But no one ever took care of me. One year ago I had stopped eating. I wanted to be thinner. Skinny people always got everything. I wanted to get things, I wanted to have control of something. I wanted Jason to have more food.

My mother didn't notice anything, but Jason started to worry. He knew me too well. He saw how I stole money from our mother and her boyfriends. He noticed how when he did his homework, I did my best to pay off all the necessary bills. He noticed how bad my report card was. Thankfully my mom didn't care and I had a C- in all my classes. But Jason noticed. He asked why I went from all As to this. I told him that it was non of his business. It hurt to lie to him. He noticed how I started to exercise everyday. When we were younger and our parents were still together I took ballet classes with my best friend Annabeth, but after my dad left my mom didn't pay anymore so I stopped.

Jason hadn't noticed how I started to steal things. I would go grocery shopping with the money I had and hide everything I couldn't pay for under my sweater. Somehow I never got caught. I did it for Jason. The only people I cared about were Jason and Annabeth. I couldn't spend much time with Annabeth but I ate ouch with her everyday, except I didn't eat lunch. I only drank water and ate a rice cracker. Annabeth got worried but I told her that I wasn't hungry. Every day. Annabeth didn't know that my mom was a wrack. She knew my dad had left but she didn't know what that had meant for us. I told her not to come to our flat because my mom was recovering from the shock. Annabeth had accepted that but I knew I couldn't keep her away for ever. She was a smart girl, she would have figured everything out eventually. I just hoped that it wouldn't be soon. Annabeth was very busy working for school, her parents cared a lot about her grades. I used to spend almost every day at Annabeth's house. Now I didn't have time. But now my mom was gone. I only had Jason. We had nowhere to go. We wouldn't be able to pay for our apartment. Our dad didn't care about us. I had tried to find him last year but when I called him he hang up as soon as he heard my name. I had considered calling him after the police told us our mom was dead. He wouldn't have cared though. He would have hung up again. It wasn't his problem if his kids were all alone. It wasn't his problem if his wife died in a car crash she'd caused herself.

So we were alone at the funeral. My mother's family had never liked our father so they had not cared about us either. I didn't care. We didn't need anyone to help us. We were gonna be alright.

After the funeral I went home with Jason. We didn't talk much. There was nothing to say, at least we didn't want to talk about it. When we reached our door, Annabeth was sitting in front of it.

"Thalia!",she said when she saw me. She stood up and hugged me. Then she hugged Jason. "I'm so sorry. I saw it in the newspaper this morning and then you guys weren't at school so it came here and you weren't there.", she said in a rush. I didn't know what to say to her. "You didn't need to come, Annie, but thanks.", I answered as I dug for my key in the pockets of my leather jacket. I found the key and opened the door. "Of course I came! You guys are like family to me. And also my parents said it would be a good thing.", Annabeth commented. She was such a good friend, I didn't deserve to have her. Jason looked from her to me and said "It's really nice that you came, Annabeth". Annabeth and Jason were the same age so he knew her from classes and sometimes I had taken him with me when I went to Annabeth's, but only when mom had her bad days. "Why don't you come inside?", Jason continued. I froze, Annabeth hadn't been in our flat since my mom started drinking there. Me and Jason didn't care about it but there were empty bottles and unpaid bills everywhere. I gave Jason a panicked look. He frowned, probably not knowing what my problem was. "Sure.", Annabeth confirmed and my heart sunk. I couldn't tell her no. If I didn't let her in she'd start to wonder. So I said "It's a bit messy because our mom was having a bad time lately." More like the last five years. Annabeth nodded in understanding. I opened the door completely and walked in. Jason and Annabeth followed.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Annabeth_**

I was shocked when I entered the apartment**.** I remembered it had a small living room, flooded with light from high windows overlooking New York, in the middle of it was a sofa and an armchair, next to which was a little television. Now there was no light because all the blinds were down. As Thalia put on the light, I saw that the sofa and armchair were still there**,** with stains and empty bottles on them. The floor was littered with more bottles, vodka, wine, beer and other drinks. The tv was gone and the table it had stood on was full of paper. I saw the word "overdue" written in red on the top one and assumed they were bills. I looked at Thalia and Jason, still stunned by the chaos.

"Are you guys in trouble?" I asked. Thalia looked down and bit her lip. She did that when she felt nervous. "Yes, we kind of are... Mom had a drinking problem since dad left, she stopped caring. Didn't work regularly...so we are a little short on money." She said slowly and I felt a knot in my stomach. "Did they tell you what will happen to you now? Are they gonna make you live with your dad?" I asked,Thalia shrugged. "I don't know. He doesn't care about us though." she told me. The knot in my stomach tightened. "I'm gonna call my parents. I'm sure you guys can live with us for a while." Jason looked up, Thalia's mouth fell open. "Uhm, I don't..." She started but I already dialed my home number. "You'll come to my house. I won't let you stay here." I said and called my parents.

A few minutes later, Jason and Thalia packed their stuff and we waited for my mum to pick us up. They told me some more, how Thalia stole her mum's money, how their mum always had new boyfriends... It all seemed unreal. I felt so stupid for not noticing anything. Thalia was my best friend! I thought that they didn't want me to visit because the apartment was so small. I had completely ignored all the obvious changes in her behavior. She had stopped coming to dancing practices, she had loved those! I felt so bad for them. A few minutes later, my mum drove up in the yard of the house. "Shotgun!" Jason yelled and Thalia rolled her eyes. I opened the trunk and they put their bags in it. Thalia and I got into the back. We all greeted my mother and she responded with a friendly "hi", as always. We drove to my house and told my mother everything that had happened. "I understand that. You guys can stay at our house for as long as you want to. We'll get you whatever you need." my mum said. Thalia nodded. "That's very nice." Jason murmured. "I can get a job and pay rent, you know." Thalia offered. "Oh no Thalia please it's alright." my mom said. "You can stay in Annabeth's room and Jason can have the guest room. It's no problem." she continued. "Thank you." They both said. We drove the rest of the way in silence. When we entered the house, I led Jason to the guest room and Thalia to my own room. I had a queen sized bed in the middle of the room. There was a large desk with mountains of paper on it in front of the window. All the walls were painted grey and I had pictures of cities and buildings on my walls. The other wall was taken up by a huge bookshelf and a small wardrobe. Thalia came in and put her bag on my bed. "So you can sleep on the bed and I'll get a mattress on the floor." I suggested. Thalia shrugged. She said: "I can sleep on the floor if you want your bed. It's no problem." I shook my head. "You take the bed, it's fine. End of story." I argued. Thalia looked so tired. She was thin and had dark circles under her eyes. Her short, black hair was dull and her light blue eyes were without their usual gleam. She was wearing black eyeliner all around her eyes, which made the red lines in her eyes stand out. I wanted to hit myself for not noticing how much she'd changed.

"Thalia, I'm sorry. I should have noticed how much trouble you were in. I... I'm so sorry." my voice broke. She smiled sadly. "It's okay. Maybe I should have said something but I was scared that they'd lock my mum up or something..." I saw tears in her eyes as I ran toward her and hugged her. I felt her stiffen, then she relaxed and hugged me back. Her tears started running down her cheeks and I felt them on my back. I held her while she sobbed and whispered comforting things like "you'll be okay" and "it's alright" in her ear. When she stopped crying I let go and she sat down on my bed. "You're my best friend, Annie. I can't thank you enough for letting us stay with you." I nodded. "Of course." She wiped at her cheeks where her make up had been smudged off by her tears. "I'll check on Jason. This must be tough for him. Thanks Annie, for everything." I smiled sadly, asking myself how tough this was for Thalia. "Sure. Do you want dinner?" Thalia looked down. "I'll ask Jason if he wants some." Before I could say anything else she left the room, leaving me alone.

A/N: So this is the second chapter! I don't know how many chapters this will have but I think at least 10. Special thanks to for reviewing, I'm glad you like it. The characters belong to Rick Riordan! Thanks for reading.

~SillyGeekyMe


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